Without question, for most imaging industry participants, 2009 was the worst hard time. With companies shuttering their doors, laying off workers, and issuing strict cost controls to survive, businesses printed fewer pages. Cortney Kasuba, senior analyst for Lyra's Hard Copy Supplies Advisory Service (SAS), says, "This year, total page usage declined due mainly to a smaller employee base. While some printing requirements were transferred to other stillemployed people, others became unnecessary. In addition, with many companies implementing cost-saving strategies, lots of companies put restrictions on printing. Some of these habits will become permanent changes, while others will revert back once companies feel more stable. Color volumes suffered in 2009, and black output on color machines, as a share of output, increased." She notes, "As far as I know, this is the first time we have seen the toner cartridge and container market shrink."

Andy Lippman, also a senior analyst for Lyra's SAS, says that things were no brighter on the consumer side of the industry. He tells us that due to the economic recession and weak customer demand, worldwide ink jet cartridge revenue fell 4 percent from 2008 to 2009, adding the discouraging news that the ink jet cartridge market is projected to remain depressed until slight revenue growth resumes in 2012. Lippman asserts, "The size and breadth of the current recession and the relative maturity of the printer market have made this industry downturn one for the history books."